To Roast Pigeons

Modern cookery for private families · Acton, Eliza · 1845

Source: Modern cookery for private families
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (8)

Pigeons for roasting. ↝ Squab, (pigeon), meat only, raw [Poultry Products]
a small bit of butter ↝ Butter, stick, unsalted [Dairy and Egg Products]
a little cayenne ↝ Peppers, raw, NFS [Other vegetables and combinations]
minced parsley ↝ Parsley, raw [Not included in a food category]
butter ↝ Butter, stick, unsalted [Dairy and Egg Products]
brown gravy ↝ Gravy, brown, dry [Soups, Sauces, and Gravies]
parsley and butter ↝ Parsley, raw [Not included in a food category]
young water-cresses

Instructions (12)

Dress pigeons while they are very fresh.
If extremely young they will be ready in twelve hours for the spit, otherwise in twenty-four.
Take off the heads and necks.
Cut off the toes at the first joint.
Draw them carefully.
Pour plenty of water through them.
Wipe them dry.
Put into each bird a small bit of butter lightly dipped into a little cayenne (formerly it was rolled in minced parsley, but this is no longer the fashionable mode of preparing them).
Truss the wings over the backs.
Roast them at a brisk fire, keeping them well and constantly basted with butter.
Serve them with brown gravy, and a tureen of parsley and butter.
For the second course, dish them upon young water-cresses, as directed for roast fowl aux cressons, page 272.

Original Text

TO ROAST PIGEONS.

[In season from March to Michaelmas, and whenever they can be had young.]

Pigeons for roasting.

These, as we have already said, should be dressed while they are very fresh. If extremely young they will be ready in twelve hours for the spit, otherwise in twenty-four. Take off the heads and necks, and cut off the toes at the first joint; draw them carefully, and pour plenty of water through them: wipe them dry, and put into each bird a small bit of butter lightly dipped into a little cayenne (formerly it was rolled in minced parsley, but this is no longer the fashionable mode of preparing them). Truss the wings over the backs, and roast them at a brisk fire, keeping them well and constantly basted with butter. Serve them with brown gravy, and a tureen of parsley and butter. For the second course, dish them upon young water-cresses, as directed for roast fowl aux cressons, page 272. About twenty minutes will roast them.

18 to 20 minutes; five minutes longer, if large; rather less, if very young.

Notes

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